Thursday, October 18, 2007

Anna, here's to you - - - "It is not the years in our life, but the life in youryears that count!" Happy Birthday.

(above: Daisy Cake, Martha Stewart)

Tell me where does this woman find the time and energy?!?!? She's an interiordesigner, she owns a shop in Brisbane Australia called Black & Spiro, she's theblog author of Absolutely Beautiful Things (one of my favs), this week she's guestblogging over at Design Sponge and last week she threw herself one swankybirthday party! *whew*

When I saw the pictures from Anna's 30th birthday party posted on her blog, Iemailed her and asked if she would share with me her inspiration. She happilyresponded and I'm so excited to pass along the inside scoop. Thanks Anna foryour insight! Everything looked "Absolutely Beautiful".

(above: Anna decorated the table in pink, yellow and white with tin buckets filledwith daisies placed down the centre of the table).

1. What was your inspiration? Are daises your favorite flower? Being that Peppers SpicersPeak Lodge is out in the country I felt that daisies in tin buckets suited this look and Ijust wanted it to be very simple. Usually I do lots of different types of flowers down thecentre of the table but this time as I said I just wanted it so very simple.

2. I love what you did to the napkin, is that a certain type of knot? No just simply knotted andplayed with a bit to make them sit perfectly. I have to attribute this style of napkin tying tomy mother as this was her idea a while ago and I just love it as I am a huge fan of bows!!

3. Oh! the pink ribbon on the wine glasses were the perfect touch! Did you do that to tieinto the napkin? If you look really closely I tied a small rose onto each wine class withthe pink ribbon and yes I used the pink ribbon to tie in the pink on the napkin.

4. I love that you chose square plates. Did you have a choice between square and round?Square plates were the only option so I can’t be credited for that but I agree that theylooked really great!!

(above: Anna had a special birthday lunch on Saturday beginning with drinks onthe lawn. Each person received a hand-painted parasol to use outside for thedrinks and then a sit down lunch inside in front of the fireplace).5. What were your place cards leaning against? They were leaning against a soap wrappedin paper with handwriting saying what sort of soap it was. This was just a small gift toeach of my guests from me.

6. Lastly, did you find conversation difficult with a long table? Oh no definitely not! It wasreally fantastic – the conversation flowed really well and people just got up and movedaround a bit which I loved! I love long tables. I’m not a fan of round tables.

I was so inspired by Anna's yellow and pink color scheme thatI put together a mood board of my own.(clockwise: Ombrages dessert plate, Raynaud, $61.00, DeVine Corporation,Anna's place setting, images from Brides and The Knot).

Tabletop recommendation for the bride who loves the yellow and pink theme.